January 26, 2014

Gregory tries to drag Paul back to the question — whether the GOP should be talking about “women’s health, women’s bodies.” And Paul goes through the same tactics: cooling things off with a joke (“I try never to have discussions of anatomy unless I’m at a medical conference”), saying that the whole subject is “dumbed down” and political, and observing that way women are doing well. He adds another compliment, that the women he knows are “conquering the world,” not complaining about how “terrible” and “misogynist” it is. He never says one thing about birth control, women’s bodies, or the unfortunate locutions of other members of his party.

So that’s how Paul is going to deal with the media efforts to lure Republicans into playing the Democrats’ war on women game.

There are a number of other topics in the interview, but Gregory puts another woman topic at the end. He’s got an interview from Vogue in which Rand Paul joked about the polls that show Hillary Clinton beating every GOP opponent, and Paul’s wife Kelley burst in with: “Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky should complicate his return to the White House, even as first spouse. I would say his behavior was predatory, offensive to women.”

Gregory asks if Paul thinks that “will be fair game and an appropriate part of a campaign” against Hillary. Paul says:

Well, you know, I mean, the Democrats, one of their big issues is they have concocted and said Republicans are committing a war on women.

If our opponents are going to do gender politics, he implies, it’s fair for us to do it too.

One of the workplace laws and rules that I think are good is that bosses shouldn’t prey on young interns in their office.

Good. Sexual harassment law is serious, and it matters.

Well, only when it’s convenient to the narrative. But every time this happens, it’s fair to bring up Clinton, Filner, Weiner, John Edwards, et al. Make it unpleasant for them, spoil their narrative, and they’ll stop. But read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Reader Michael Schrage writes: “Good God, man! Why are you leaving out Spitzer?” There are so many, it’s hard to keep track. Say, speaking of Spitzer, did you know that Ashley Dupre got married?